European Commission must press Russia on impunity

New York, February 23, 2011--In advance of key
meetingson Thursday between the European Commission and Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to address Russia's record of
rampant impunity in resolving the killings of journalists.

"Physical attacks and murder have become routine methods used
to silence journalists in Russia," said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program
Coordinator Nina Ognianova. "It is
imperative that President Barroso engage with Prime Minister Putin to end
impunity and uphold the rule of law in Russia.
When sensitive subjects are underreported for fear of reprisal, the public--both
domestic and international--is left to rely exclusively on official
information."

Russian officials have made public commitments to protect
journalists, but with convictions elusive, violence against the press
continues. Russia's Federal Investigative Committee, responsible for probing
the country's most serious crimes, announced it would reopen
at least five unsolved cases after meeting with a CPJ delegation in
Moscow in September 2010--CPJ's third consecutive yearly visit to Russia to
press officials for justice. While no journalists were murdered in 2010, at
least one reporter was brutally
beaten in retaliation for his work. And his assailant, like nearly all
attackers in anti-press cases, remains at large.

Russia ranks eighth on CPJ's
Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists are killed
regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. Nineteen journalists have
been murdered in the country since 2000, according to CPJ research.